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E90/E91/E92/E93 (2006 - 2013) The E9X is the 4th evolution of the BMW 3 series including a highly tuned twin turbo 335i variant pushing out 300hp and 300 ft. lbs. of torque. BMW continues to show that it sets the bar for true driving performance! -- View the E9X Wiki

Just so you know, you had me at "make someone slightly high" and cinched it with "wont affect judgement". My pants are now down.

Cmon furb, so you're saying that after using washer fluid on your windshield, your judgment gets affected? The only thing cleaning your windshield will do is make your judgment BETTER now that it's clean and easier to see out.

Lol you guys are having way to much fun sniffing this washer fluid thread.

It tends to make us less aware of the runflat and dip stick issues...gives us antisocial personality disorders that makes us less tolerant of other car models...more tolerant of BMW's design changes. I sense a wicked corporate conspiracy here. Timothy Leary would fully understand...I wake up at night LOVING my runflat tires and lack of a dip stick, but am always fighting it in my mind. It's the washer fluid, I'm sure.

Note that if you live in California, what you can buy depends on where you live and what time of year it is. As you walk down the aisle in the grocery or drug store, pay attention to what blue jug of cheap fluid says on the label. If it says "Protects to 32 degrees", it's basically just blue water with a VERY SMALL amount of alcohol in it, and it means you live in a "non-mountainous" area and/or it's "summer", both as defined by state law. If you see on the label "Protects to 22 degrees (or some lower number)", then it's blue water with a bit more alcohol in it and you must either live in a "mountainous" area or it's "winter".

The reason for this are the state laws on VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) emissions. And don't think this applies only to grocery store products, all resellers and distributors have to abide by these laws as well. Personally, in the past I've made it a point to stock up on the "good stuff" whenever I see it on the shelves because much of the year in the LA area you can't get anything but the blue water.

This is actually a useful characteristic. When someone is riding your rear bumper you just put the washers on and spray his windshield. They usually back off. Of course it gets them pissed off too.

True. I had had this happen to me right after I washed my car. I pickup was comming down the street and he waited until he was next to me to use his washer fluid which sprayed all over my hood.

On another note I stopped by my dealer yesterday to buy OEM fluid to see if maybe mine was mixed wrong. The bottle said SMB and its blue? My OEM fluid sprays out white??? So now I am wondering if this is why I am getting soap spots? Is anyones OEM fluid spraying out white?

...On another note I stopped by my dealer yesterday to buy OEM fluid to see if maybe mine was mixed wrong. The bottle said SMB and its blue? My OEM fluid sprays out white??? So now I am wondering if this is why I am getting soap spots? Is anyones OEM fluid spraying out white?

My guess is that the washer fluid line ends in a spray nozzle. Nozzles are used for three purposes: to distribute a liquid over an area, to increase liquid surface area, and create impact force on a solid surface. Spray nozzles can cause atomization-the breakup of the fluid into drops (paraphrased from Wikipedia).

On another note I stopped by my dealer yesterday to buy OEM fluid to see if maybe mine was mixed wrong. The bottle said SMB and its blue? My OEM fluid sprays out white??? So now I am wondering if this is why I am getting soap spots? Is anyones OEM fluid spraying out white?

The concentrate I just purchased at the Tischer BMW parts counter (list price $3.99 for a 500 ml /16.9 fl oz bottle) is pretty colorless and does not have "SMB" on the bottle. When mixed with water, it is a very pale blue but seems to spray out white. The label says "Windshield Washer Antifreeze" and "Original BMW CareProducts" as well as "Made in Germany", and that 8 oz of the concentrate mixed with 1 gallon of water will protect down to 27oF and 32 oz mixed with 1 gallon of water will protect down to 10oF. While a smaller 3 oz bottle was also available, it contains no freezing protection.

On my recently purchased 328xi I've had an issue with the nozzles being aimed fairly high on the windshield, my rooftop gets a nice speckling of blue when I use the fluid. I called the dealer and he said they can still be adjusted with a safety pin. I'm nervous to try though, the heated nozzles on the winter package are $80 parts (plus labor) to fix.

Maybe I'll have them re-aimed next time im in. I'd hate to pay for something like this!

My experience has been that re-aiming yourself is fairly difficult. I recommend letting the dealer do it. The TIS describes precisely where the spray should land. The E39 version was clearly some engineer's pet project

I partially agree - The washer fluid my dealer puts in is a weak orange color and does seem much too concentrated and yes; it's soapy and dries leaving a stain. I mentioned it the last time I was in for an oil change, and the service guy stated that other people had mentioned it - but it's genuine BMW washer fluid; so that's what they are sticking with.

As far as the overspray; I don't have that problem - I'd say it's an adjustment issue.